Moe's Viral Marketing

Traditional Tight Message Management Is Diminished on The Internet, but Viral Marketing Can Have Big Payoffs.

Moe's Southwest Grill, a chain of some 345 franchise units offering burritos and Southwest cuisine, has been encouraging its fans via the Internet to contribute 30-second video commercials highlighting its burritos. Its fans would vote online on the best video.

The winner? Moe's announced that Notorious M.O.E. and Nacho Daddy, four amateur rappers (see video below), will take home the prize of burritos for life.

Steve Coomes of Fast Casual writes about the latest Moe's grass roots effort, and using viral marketing in general.

For decades, marketers have insisted promotional messages be controlled, targeted, customer-focused and measurable. But with the growth of the Internet, such tight message management is diminished.

But viral marketing can be a tad risky in a day when millions of Internet bloggers eagerly weigh in with criticism; however, when bloggers like what they see, their sites often become digital springboards to mass-media attention.

... “With viral, you don’t have ultimate control over a campaign’s success,” said David Craven, marketing manager for Qdoba Mexican Grill.

“Professional marketers have been ingrained to control the message, the medium and the outcome,” he said. “But what we’re learning with the proliferation of the online space is you lose control when you go out there. Whether it’s a blogger saying something or you’re asking for submission such as some type of video — and you’re going to get some back that are downright crude — you have to be prepared for that.”